Alan Keyes

Political Party: Republican
Current Position: Author, Speaker, Radio Talk Show Host
State: Maryland
Political Experience: Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 1983-1985; Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, 1985-1988

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from The Washington Post, CNN, On the Issues and Keyes's web site. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

A native of Montgomery County, Maryland, Alan Keyes is no stranger to running for political office. He unsuccessfully challenged Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) in the 1988 Senatorial elections and Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) in the 1992 elections. He also ran for the senate in 2004 against Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), who is another contender in the 2008 presidential elections. This is the third time Keyes is running for president. He ran for president in 1996 and 2000 but lost in the Republican primaries to Bob Dole and George W. Bush, respectively. In every single election, Keyes has emphasized his strong conservative background.

As a far-right Republican, Keyes believes that religion should be dominant in schools. He believes that students should pray in schools and any judge who bans school prayer should be impeached, according to On the Issues. In addition, he believes that parents should choose which school their children attend and should have more power in the whole school system.

Supporting his conservative image, Keyes is and has always been decidedly pro-life. He opposes abortion in every case except when the mother's life is at risk. He feels that the principles in the Declaration of Independence support the right of fetuses to live and he supports a constitutional amendment that would define the beginning of life as the moment of conception.
As with his position on abortion, Keyes is very right-leaning in his views on marriage, as he believes that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. He believes that God has already established that marriage is between a man and a woman and that the issue should not be debated. In addition, Keyes opposes all legal rights for same-sex partners.

Keyes's position on immigration further cements his conservative Republican image. He believes that America's borders need to be more secure and condemns President Bush's guest-visa legislation because he says it is too lenient towards illegal immigrants. Although he supports legal immigration, Keyes opposes extending citizenship towards illegal immigrants and deems American enforcement of immigration laws too loose.

Instead, he encourages legal immigration and opposes giving liberties to illegal immigrants. "Serving the common good demands policies that give preference in immigration not just to workers seeking jobs and money, but to those who seek liberty and the responsibilities of citizenship," Keyes writes on his web site.

Like other far-right conservatives, Keyes believes that government spending should be cut. In addition, he supports abolishing the income tax and substituting a national sales tax in its place because he feels it would give more power to the people while limiting the spending power of the federal government.